Sergey Gulevsky and Olga Dmitrienko "Color and line"

The Russian Academy of Arts presents the author’s project of famous Voronezh artists Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts Sergei Gulevsky and honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts Olga Dmitrienko. The exposition consisted of about 60 graphic works of different years. Watercolors by one artist and drawings by another complement each other, acquiring a special “sound” in a single exhibition context. Landscapes, still lifes, portraits, thematic series are distinguished not only by the highest professional skill, but also by deep content, unique author’s style.

Landscape watercolors by Sergei Gulevsky are filled with a reverent attitude to the beauty of his native land. Soft, airy, made with great taste, they evoke sublime feelings in a person. The works of the master do not “impose” anything on the viewer: they are natural and organic. Written broadly, without unnecessary details, they have the qualities of a poetic image. That is why the academician of the Russian Academy of Arts Oleg Savostyuk noted in them "Chekhov’s sadness with amazing truth and revelation." The flowers in the author’s works are in tune with the landscape lyrics, they have a common motif of the beauty of being as part of the natural universe that attracts the artist.

In the works of Olga Dmitrienko one can feel a serious school based on the St. Petersburg graphic tradition. Her drawing is characterized by precision, expressiveness, exquisite restraint, refined plasticity of lines, and soft tonal gradation. The artist is in love with the drawing, with the silver of graphite and the velvety of the pastel, which is emotionally transmitted to the viewer. The main themes of her work are inextricably linked with the history of Russia, the images of bright, outstanding personalities. In the graphic sheets of the master, the events of the past “come to life”, where the modern viewer finds the innermost and unique for himself, which makes her art a source of figurative knowledge of reality.

The works of Sergei Gulevsky and Olga Dmitrienko, presented at the exhibition, create a special figurative, plastic polyphony, revealing the widest range of possibilities and relevance of graphic art.

Sergei Petrovich Gulevsky - Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts (2021), Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation (1998). Born in 1954 in Voronezh. Graduated from the Buturlinov Art and Graphic Pedagogical School, Department of Decorative and Applied Art of the Kharkov Art and Industry Institute. Among his mentors is an outstanding master, the largest stage designer of the 1920s-1940s. B. V. Kosarev. Having received a fundamental art education, S. P. Gulevsky returned to his native city. Since 1984 - a participant of regional, zonal, republican, all-Russian, all-Union, international exhibitions. He worked as the director of the Voronezh Children’s Art School. Since 1990, S. P. Gulevsky has been the director of the Voronezh Art College, since 1994 he has been the dean of the painting faculty of the Voronezh State Academy of Arts. The artist is one of the organizers, active participants, mentors of numerous plein airs for teachers and students: “In the homeland of I. N. Kramskoy”, “Yesenin plein air” in the village of Konstantinovo, Krymsky, Tretyakov and many others. Heading the art school for 29 years, he has ensured that VCU today is one of the strongest art schools in the country.

Olga Vasilievna Dmitrienko is an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts (2021), Honored Art Worker of the Voronezh Region (2016). Born in 1964 in Voronezh in the family of the famous artist Vasily Dmitrienko. Graduated from the St. Petersburg Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. I. E. Repin, workshop of V. Vetrogonsky. Member of the Union of Artists of Russia (1998). Since 1988 - participant of regional, republican and international exhibitions. Teacher of the Voronezh Art College. The artist’s works are in private collections in Russia and abroad.